NIDA Clinical Trials Network (CTN), Pacific Northwest Node

Drug dependence continues to be a persistent problem for which new treatments, both behavioral and pharmacological, are continually being developed. There is a great need to develop mechanisms by which such treatments, once shown to be efficacious, can be put into widespread clinical practice in community-based treatment programs where the largest number of drug abusers are seen. A number of barriers between researchers and clinicians, however, have made such a transition difficult, if at all possible. The recent Institute of Medicine report has challenged us to work on “bridging the gap,” to address the barriers to facilitate a more functional working relationship between treatment providers and clinical researchers, who share a common goal of wanting to improve substance abuse treatment and its outcomes. NIDA has developed an action agenda to stimulate treatment providers and researchers to consider ways, from each of their perspectives, to narrow or bridge the “gap.” NIDA’s action agenda is the development of the National Clinical Trials Network (CTN), in which researchers at Regional Research and Training Centers work in partnership with Community-based Treatment Programs both to develop areas of mutual interest for future clinical research and to test promising therapies in community settings.

Since 2001, the University of Washington Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute (ADAI) has been the home for the Pacific Northwest Node of the NIDA CTN, originally under the leadership of Dennis M. Donovan, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. In 2018, Mary Hatch-Maillette, PhD, Associate Professor at ADAI, was named Co-Director of the Pacific NW Node. In 2020, Dennis Donovan, PhD, retired from his role as Co-Director and John Roll, PhD at Washington State University was named Co-Director in his place. The Pacific NW Node is a collaboration between the Regional Research and Training Center at ADAI and affiliated community partners in Washington and Alaska.